Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)

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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) – S. Paradjanov

The Soviets suppressed the works of Sergei Paradjanov because they seemed to promote religious belief and local culture (and therefore separatism).  However, in doing so, they effectively quashed a great talent.  Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors tells a simple story of an impossible love between a boy and a girl from two fighting families in the 19^th century, but it is endlessly inventive in its visual choices and increasingly bizarre in its plot, encompassing not just Christianity but earlier pagan beliefs. Somehow, Paradjanov places his camera (handled by cinematographer Yuri Ilyenko) in fire and under water, shooting out at Ivan, the hero of the story. He includes large dramatic close-ups of mustachioed faces (of the Eastern European variety) and beautiful long-shots that make landscapes look like exquisitely patterned tapestries (as when he shoots a hillside of tree stumps, with each stump on fire). Ivan’s story is a sad one, as his first true love drowns and he descends into loneliness and alcoholism (and the film fades from brilliant color to B&W), only recovering when he meets earthy Palagna and marries her. But his steadfast devotion to his dead lover leads his new marriage into despair and Palagna turns to sorcery. Ivan’s death is celebrated with a Ukrainian ritual, as are all the other major events of the film, apparently drawn from Paradjanov’s knowledge of the Hutsul people of the Carpathian Mountains. But trying to explain this film in words is an impossible challenge, you need to see this lofty peak of world cinema yourself.